great blog….

Congratulations…

Great point about the power of choice. I have friends who’ve faced tough circumstances (illness, poverty, adversity) and risen above it. I admire them hugely.

And I won’t relent in the blogging I’d rather push a strong and enthusiastic view and get a bit of kick-back in the comments than water everything down. And that’s what the comments are here for; so you can add ideas and disagree and discuss.

Enjoy the rest of the blog!

Found your blog after purchasing “The Bloggers Guide to Effective Writing” today (nice work by the way!).

I’d have to disagree with the last couple of comments here (Fern & Lela) – I think they dramatically underestimate the power of choice. I believe their criticism stems from the misconception that a choice must be “good” for it to be viable. Sometimes the best choices that are available to us though, are between one option that is bad, and another that is worse. The quality of choices available to us does not diminish our ability to make them, nor the necessity of making them. Using a fear of destitution or poverty is just an excuse to delay “choosing your own adventure.”

I say this from experience, as i’ve been genuinely homeless myself – and as unpleasant as it is, it is remarkably easier than many people believe. It’s really the fear of failing that is worse than failing itself. Breaking that cycle involved making decisions – none of which were great – but nonetheless there are options that were there if you have the tenacity to find them and the courage to pursue them.

I believe that living your own adventure is an incremental process, where we gradually improve the quality of choices that are available to us. With each choice we make – each risk we take – we find a little bit more of the courage that the next decision will require, allowing us to take bigger leaps with the next risk. It’s a simple process really. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

People need to differentiate between being broke, and being poor. One reflects your material circumstance, while the other reflects your mental and spiritual attitude. Money fixes being broke. Getting out of poverty requires so much more. When you’ve lost hope and faith in yourself, you’ve given away the one thing nobody could take away from you: your power to choose.

The point to take home? Never give up your power to choose to the imagined phantoms of poverty, destitution – or even death. You will prevail. We all come from different places in life – but we all have exactly the same capacity to choose. Whether or not you make those choices is down to your own personal courage: keep digging – it’s in there!

Ali, I know it must be tempting to relent to some of your readers, but *please* don’t moderate your message of hope – it’s too necessary! This is a great post – i’m really looking forward to combing through more of your posts now:-)

Keep up the good work!

I guess I wrote this blog post in the knowledge that most of my readers will, like me, and like you say, be “extraordinarily privileged”. If you’ve got an internet connection and the ability to find my blog, you’re probably doing quite well. Perhaps I was being too hopeful in the piece, though; I realise not everyone *does* have friends or family to fall back on. My apologies if it came across as glib or offensive in any way, that certainly wasn’t my intention. I usually try to push quite a strong point in articles here, because I think that’s more powerful than always offering a very balanced view.

Thankfully, my worst-case scenario was never a reality. I’d have HATED to ask my parents to bail me out, and if they had done, I’d've done everything in my power to pay them back!

I’m lucky, and I’m very grateful for that. I am very priviledged compared to many people, and I recognise that for others, decisions are far harder. I’d question whether true destitution is likely in most cases, though.

I agree that as I get older, I’m sure I’ll find that certain paths close off or become much harder. I hope that others will open up, though – whether through new friendships, through financial investments, or through acquiring new skills. I certainly make no pretence to have all the answers, which is why I love to have different opinions, points of view and stories in the comments. So thanks for chiming in!